howdy ya'll
Today I birded the coast, starting at the Ocean Shores Jetty at
6:30AM-7:30AM, but prior to this, I wanted to note that I had a BARN OWL fly
through my headlight beam at 5:00AM at the freeway onramp of Hwy 101 at Mud
Bay in West Olympia. At the jetty I observed the following:

HEERMANN'S GULLS - many birds still in alternate plumage, among quite a few
juveniles.

COMMON MURRES - many strings flying out of the harbor.

SOOTY SHEARWATERS - many birds (note I did not keep a tally) flying north
past the jetty.

RHINOCEROUS AUKLETS - 10 individuals flew past the jetty.

PARASITIC JAEGER - Group of 3 birds flying south over the jetty, really close
(adults).

BLACK TURNSTONES - 2 birds flying to the tip of the jetty.

I then headed to the game range opposite Damon Point, at the Sewage Treatment
Plant, where I had several CASPIAN TERNS feeding there chicks, it was low
tide at this time so much of the game range flats were exposed. I also saw
what I thought was the YBLO across the way near the rocks, but I had bad
lighting, so couldn't make it out as a positive ID at this time.

After the STP, I headed to Damon Point, where at the previous YBLO report's
location, I observed many SURF SCOTERS, 2 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, 2 BLACK
BRANT, 20+ alternate plumage RED-THROATED LOONS, a few alternate plumaged
PACIFIC LOONS farther out, 2 basic COMMON LOONS and 1 still in breeding
plumage. But NO Yellow-billed...
Shorebirds consisted of a few WESTERN SANDPIPERS, 1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, and
a single DUNLIN, turning into winter plumage, with black belly still evident.
This Dunlin is my personal early record for this species, usually I don't
encounter them until MUCH later...

After scanning the area for about an hour and a half, I decided to give up
and go to Tokeland.
As I was driving off, I saw Ruth Sullivan's car on the side of the road, so I
decided to try one more time, thinking that two sets of eyes would be much
better than one. We weren't there more than 15 minutes when ruth scanned the
rocks near the Game Range and pulled out the YELLOW-BILLED LOON. What a
gorgeous bird! It had been awhile since I had last seen this species, Nov
1997 to be exact... but well worth the wait.

Ruth had not heard about the Bar-tailed Godwit at Tokeland that Paul Lehman
found a day or two again, so she decided to come along. We arrived there at
about 1:00PM and never have I seen so many WHIMBREL in Pacific County! There
must have been 200+ on the breakwater at the marina, they outnumbered the
godwits 3-1 at least. Well here are the shorebirds:

WHIMBREL - 200+
MARBLED GODWIT - 50+
BAR-TAILED GODWIT - this bird was difficult to pick out of the flock, but we
finally got a postive ID when we had it standing side by side with a few
MARBLED GODWITS and could see that the bird was smaller, shorter legged, and
much lighter in color. Also noticeable was the supercillium with a smudge of
an eyeline behind the eye. Though I am going back tommorrow at around High
Tide because of BVD (Better View Desired)
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER - 80-100 birds
WESTERN SANDPIPERS flock of 30+ flew by
Thats about it for the day for me.
Time for a nap!
Good birding

Ryan Shaw
Lacey, WA
RTShaw80 at aol.com
http://hometown.aol.com//rtshaw80/index.html